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Ölprospektion mit Mikroleptonen
Oil company’s 'microlepton' technology dismissed 3 July 2002 A company is seeking permission to search for oil in the UK using “microleptons” – particles that are completely unknown to high-energy physicists. Technology Investment and Exploration Limited (TIEL) has already won outline planning permission from the local council to build a borehole at a site in rural Leicestershire, and has secured an oil-exploration licence from the UK government. TIEL believes that conventional satellite photographs of the Earth contain recordings of invisible microleptons emitted by underground deposits of oil. These areas can be revealed, the company says, by shining a "microlepton generator" onto the photographic film. Having identified an area of interest, TIEL flies over the target area in a small plane or helicopter with a portable "microlepton scanner" on board to identify the exact location of the oil. Nicholas Yellachich, UK managing director of the firm, told Physics World that the technology is based on work carried out by Martin Perl, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the tau lepton. But Perl denies any connection with the work. "The claims are nonsense, and they have nothing to do with my work,” he says. According to Alkor International - a rival firm that claims to have found oil using the same technique - microleptons are "very small members of the lepton family". They are supposed to be about 1000 times less massive than the electron, which is the lightest of the leptons. Millions of microleptons are said to surround every proton and electron in an atom, and – according to Alkor's website – they can form billion-strong clusters that pass unhindered through materials faster than the speed of light. Physicists have been quick to ridicule the technology. "If microleptons existed, we would have detected them a long time ago," says John Dowell, a particle physicist at Birmingham University. "If microleptons did exist and could pass through thousands of metres of rock, how can they be detected so easily by a hand-held detector on board a helicopter?" Dowell has written to Leicestershire County Council pointing out the scientific flaws of the company's technology. "But the council decided to give outline planning permission anyway, " he says. Local residents - spearheaded by the Charnwood Forest Oil Action Group - are furious about the company's plans. They have been in contact with Robin Marshall, a particle physicist at Manchester University. He discovered that microlepton technology is based on a paper published by a Russian physicist called Anatoly Okhatrin in the journal Doklady in 1989. "He was clearly either mad, drunk or deluded," says Marshall. "He spun a cone of lead weighing several kilograms in front of a pin-hole camera and claimed to have photographed a 'glow' surrounding the cone that was due to microleptons." It is still unclear why TIEL wants to search for oil in Britain. One theory is that a drilling licence from the British government could be used as a stamp of approval when marketing the technology elsewhere in the world. "It is strange that an oil company is relying on bogus technology", says Davidson, "when all the available geological evidence suggests there is no oil to be found." About the author Matin Durrani is Deputy Editor of Physics World aus http://physicsweb.org/articles/news/6/7/1/1 ------------- trange events hit rural England News & Analysis: July 2002 A company wants to use "microlepton" technology to drill for oil in the British countryside but, as Matin Durrani reports, physicists have dismissed its claims as pseudo-scientific nonsense. Licensed to drill? Something very strange is happening in the heart of the English countryside. It involves local residents, professors of particle physics and two companies with Russian connections searching for oil. It might sound like science fiction but it is really happening. The story revolves around a company called Technology Investment and Exploration Limited (TIEL) that is seeking permission to drill for oil at a site in rural Leicestershire. The oil will be located with "microleptons" - particles that are completely unknown to high-energy physicists. The company has already won outline planning permission from the local council to build a borehole, and has secured an oil-exploration licence from the government. TIEL believes that conventional satellite photographs of the Earth contain recordings of invisible microleptons emitted by underground deposits of oil. These areas can be revealed, the company says, by shining a "microlepton generator" onto the photographic film. Having identified an area of interest, TIEL flies over the target area in a small plane or helicopter with a portable "microlepton scanner" on board to identify the exact location of the oil - or deposits of natural gas, gold and other minerals. Nicholas Yellachich, UK managing director of the firm, told Physics World that the technology is based on work carried out by Martin Perl, who shared the 1995 Nobel Prize for Physics for his discovery of the tau lepton. "This is cheaper and more accurate than conventional oil-exploration technology," says Yellachich. "It is the first time that this has been used in the West." Perl, however, denies any connection with the work. "There is no valid evidence in physics or chemistry for the existence of microleptons or microlepton fields," he says. "The claims are nonsense. They have nothing to do with my work and have no place in what is known about lepton physics or the lepton family of particles." According to Alkor International - a rival firm that claims to have found oil in North Korea using the same technique - microleptons are "very small members of the lepton family". They are supposed to weigh between 10-40 g and 10-30 g, which means that that the electron - the lightest of the leptons - is about 1000 times more massive than the heaviest microlepton. Millions of microleptons are said to surround every proton and electron in an atom, bonded by a force that is constant out to a critical distance and then zero beyond that region. If this bond is broken, says Alkor's website, the microleptons can then form billion-strong clusters that pass unhindered through materials at faster than the speed of light. Moreover, gravity forces the clusters to travel vertically upwards. TIEL intends to work for about 18 weeks on a 4.5 acre site at Vicary Farm, which lies between the villages of Quorn and Woodhouse Eaves about three miles south of Loughborough. The £1.5m project will involve building an access track, sinking a borehole to a depth of 3200 m and carrying out tests. The company promises to return the land to its original agricultural state when the tests are complete. Scientific scorn Physicists have been quick to ridicule the technology. "If microleptons existed, we would have detected them a long time ago," says John Dowell, a particle physicist at Birmingham University. "It is complete rubbish to say that oil could give off these particles. In any case, if microleptons did exist and could pass unhindered through thousands of metres of rock, how can they be detected so easily by a hand-held detector on board a helicopter?" Dowell, whose cousin lives near the proposed drilling site, has written to Leicestershire County Council pointing out the scientific flaws of the company's technology. "But the council decided to give outline planning permission anyway, " he says. "It treated the scientific evidence as if it was just another point of view." TIEL, which is registered in Guernsey, was given the right to look for oil at Vicary Farm - and at two other sites in Gloucestershire and Wales - by the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) in 2000. These licences were awarded for just £1000. But before TIEL can start drilling, it must first win full planning permission from the county council and apply to the DTI for a drilling licence. Local residents - spearheaded by the Charnwood Forest Oil Action Group - are furious about the company's plans. They are concerned that the drilling will increase noise and damage what is officially designated as an "area of particularly attractive countryside", and they plan to ask the council to reconsider the planning application. The action group has also been in contact with Robin Marshall, a particle physicist at Manchester University. "There is not a shred of evidence for the existence of microleptons," says Marshall, "but the people behind this Russian company are cleverer than your average scientific buffoon. They knew how to get into the British planning system, and realized that the criteria for being awarded a drilling licence in the UK have nothing to do with science and that having such a licence will be of great benefit to them." After doing some digging of his own, Marshall discovered microlepton technology is based on a paper published by a Russian physicist called Anatoly Okhatrin in the journal Doklady in 1989. "He was clearly either mad, drunk or deluded," says Marshall. "He spun a cone of lead weighing several kilograms in front of a pin-hole camera and claimed to have photographed a 'glow' surrounding the cone that was due to microleptons." Next stage Last month the chair of the action group, Neil Davidson, and two local MPs discussed TIEL's plans with the UK's energy minister Brian Wilson. "He gave us assurances that the DTI would fully scrutinize the geological case for oil if and when it receives a drilling application from TIEL," says Davidson. The DTI has also asked the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council to peer review "microlepton science". But it is still unclear why TIEL wants to search for oil in Britain. One theory is that a drilling licence from the British government could be used as a stamp of approval when marketing the technology elsewhere in the world. "It is strange that an oil company is relying on bogus technology", says Davidson, "when all the available geological evidence suggests there is no oil to be found." About the author Matin Durrani is Deputy Editor of Physics World aus: http://physicsweb.org/articles/world/15/7/7 ----------- Junk science in the oil patch: microlepton fields, again - News and Comment - oil well drilling innovations - Brief Article Skeptical Inquirer, May, 2002 by Tom Barber Find More Results for: " Microlepton " A view from Russia:... Finding oil and gas is a process that combines physics and geology with a lot of engineering technology. Potential drilling sites are located using 3D seismic data and a deep understanding of geology and geophysics. Evaluating a potential site requires drilling a well and recovering actual rock cores. Since recovering rock cores is very expensive and at times risky, various physics-based measurements must be made while the drilling is going on or after the well is drilled to provide additional necessary information. These measurements consist of acoustic travel time, neutron scattering, and gamma-ray scattering to determine the rock properties (especially the porosity), and various electromagnetic and NMR measurements to determine the properties of the fluids in the rock pores. Although the physics of these measurements is straightforward, the fact is that many of the properties of the rocks that are needed by the petroleum engineer to evaluate the reservoir cannot be directly measured in situ. These interesting properties have to be inferred through very empirical relationships (which change from field to field) to the properties that can be measured. This process of inference requires highly trained people, and, as one might imagine, is expensive. It also does not always find oil. The uncertainty of success from even the best science-based exploration methods, combined with the huge amounts of money at stake, opens the door to methods that are somewhat less than pure in their science. Advertisement A recent example surfaced from a contact in the Middle East. A Russian company, Alkor (www.AlkorInternational.com), is offering to find oil, gas, and minerals deep within the earth through a process called GeoVision. Their starting point is a thorough study of satellite imagery, followed by a helicopter-borne survey. They claim that this combination can reduce the uncertainty to nearly zero. The brochure goes on to describe the economics of drilling with certainty of success rather than uncertainty. The mechanism of the GeoVision method is given as "microlepton radiation." To quote from the Alkor Web site, "The most important point of Microlepton GeoVision Technology is the fact that all physical objects have their own microlepton field. The method is based on the analysis of microlepton emissions of Earth and allows to make accurate forecasts on the existence of various minerals, with the use of space photos and field expedition's results, treated on special equipment." Now, to a physicist involved in oil and gas exploration for many years, this sounded much too good to be true. Leptons are, of course, physical--a familiar example is the electron. However, "microlepton" was a new term to me. Searching the Web for "microlepton" gave very interesting results. The first few entries were from Alkor and two other companies representing them. One link was to a group in England opposing local drilling for oil. Sure enough, the rationale for drilling was that the Alkor people had run a survey. The next link was surprising--it was to a past issue of the SKEPTICAL INQUIRER! This was from an article on science in post-Soviet Russia (Shmakin 1996). This article states A well-known scandal happened in 1991, when physicists of the USSR Academy of Sciences demanded that government cease to support charlatans working on "microlepton fields" (distant biological influence of army and civil inhabitants with "torsion radiation"). About $500 million had been spent on such "investigations." Fortunately, the Supreme Soviet Committee stopped this waste of money. The Academic Department of General Physics and Astronomy at a special session on July 9, 1991, characterized this case as "organized activity of pseudoscience with specific features of large-scale bluff." The next link in the search was even more revealing. The link was to spiritweb.org. This was an article by a Russian author describing deriving equations related to those of Schrodinger and Dirac and relating these to karma (Iskakov 1994): The study of psychic phenomena dictated the need to define the concept of the information-energy field. Its material medium, according to contemporary notions, may be a global lepton gas, consisting of extremely light particles, microleptons, with a mass of 10.sup.-40-10.sup.-30 grams. Microleptons are much lighter than electrons and are capable of freely penetrating any body in the Universe. The only other links were to other spiritweb.org sites. So much for the science in the GeoVision method. My company maintains a research liaison group in Moscow, and I asked the head of that group if he had heard of Alkor. His reply is enlightening: "I have been offered that stuff some time ago already. I met some of the guys: it is hard to believe but they even seem of good faith; I managed to decline politely without laughing. You can find plenty about it on the Web. Also hard to believe: they do have a real (Russian) patent!" So, in oilfield exploration, as in all other endeavors, Caveat Emptor! References Iskakov, B., Hatonn, and Glenda Stocks. 1994. Quantum mechanics and some surprises of creation. At www.spiritweb.org/Spirit/religion-eq-science.html. Shmakin, B. 1996. A view from Russia: Popularization of science as a tool against antiscience. SKEPTICAL INQUIRER 20 (4). Tom Barber is a physicist working in the field of borehole geophysics in Houston, Texas. aus: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2843/is_3_26/ai_85932608